Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis sp)

Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis sp)

Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis sp) on Slender Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium). A male. I'd say he is P. menechma, but the experts say identifying a Pepsis species from a photo is "often impossible".  Females do provision their nests with spiders, but not necessarily tarantulas.  (Photo taken 7/5/14).

More info on BugGuide.

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Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis sp)

Potter Wasp (Eumenes fraternus - female)

Potter Wasp
Eumenes fraternus - female

Range: Widespread in eastern North America.

Food: Adults feed on nectar.

Life cycle: A female lays an egg inside a small mud nest she has built attached to a twig or other stable structure. She provisions the nest with small caterpillars which the larva eats as it grows and develops. It emerges from the nest as an adult.

There are two or three generations of potter wasps a year, depending upon location. The final generation of the year overwinters inside the nest and emerges the following spring. (For photos of larva inside a mud nest, see here.

Source: BugGuide

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Potter Wasp (Eumenes fraternus - female)

Ichneumon Wasp - Subfamily Campopleginae

Ichneumon Wasp - Subfamily Campopleginae

(Photo:  Marvin Smith on 4/17/09)

Ichneumon Wasp - Subfamily Campopleginae (Female)

The majority of Ichneumon Wasps resemble slender wasps but differ from the stinging wasps in having longer antennae with more segments (usually at least 16). Many have long ovipositors, often longer than the body.  There are around 5,000 species of Ichneumon Wasps described in North America.  Some estimate there are another 3,000 North American species as yet undescribed.  The worldwide species number estimate is 60,000.    Ichneumonids are notoriously hard to identify.

What BugGuide says about Subfamily Campopleginae:   They are koinobiont endoparasitoids; hosts are mostly Lepidoptera, Symphyta and a few attack Coleoptera.

 What that means:

Parasites live within or on a host without killing the host.  Parasitoids ultimately kill their hosts.  Koinobiont parasitoids allow the host to continue its development and often do not kill or consume the host until the host is about to either pupate or become an adult. Endoparasitoids develop inside the body of their host.

So ... A female campoplegine oviposits an egg inside the body of a host larva (a caterpillar, usually).  The host larva continues developing into a pupa.  The Ichneumon Wasp egg hatches into a larva which 1.) consumes the host and 2.) benefits from the protection provided by the host's pupal case.  Before the host pupa becomes an adult, the wasp larva finishes it off, emerges and form its own cocoon.  If all goes well, the Ichneumon larva will emerge from its cocoon as an adult wasp.  Campoplegine cocoons look something like a small speck of bird poop.  (Photo here.)  Hosts for this subfamily include butterflies and moths, sawflies and a few beetles.

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Ichneumon Wasp - Subfamily Campopleginae

Nature Notes: Baldfaced Hornet - Dolichovespula maculata

Baldfaced Hornet - Dolichovespula maculata

(Photo:  Marvin Smith on 10/25/09)

IDENTIFICATION: Black with white markings on the head, thorax, and the last few segments of the abdomen ... wings smoky ... like other Vespidae, wings are folded lengthwise when at rest ... males and worker females are around 5/8" long ... queens are larger.

LIFE CYCLE: A fertilized female (queen) overwinters, then begins a new nest in the spring. She lays eggs that develop into non-fertile female workers. Once these workers become adults, the queen only lays eggs which the workers tend and feed. Several generations of workers are produced. Late in the summer or in early fall, the queen lays eggs that develop into males and fertile females. As winter approaches, all the hornets except for mated females die. The mated females overwinter in protected habitats such as cracks and crevices. They become the next season's queens and begin the process again. In the deep south it is possible for the hornets to remain active all year.

NESTS: Hornets construct large, inverted pear-shaped paper nests that are usually attached to tree limbs. Small branches may be included in the nests to give extra support. The grayish brown nest has two to four horizontally arranged combs and an entrance hole at the bottom. Workers chew weathered wood and old boards to create the "paper" for the nest. This is the reason for hornets' large, powerful jaws.

(For photos of a hornets' nest -- and a humorous tale about its procurement -- check out MObugs.)

FOOD: Adults are commonly found on flowers where they drink nectar. They will also feed on fallen, over-ripe fruit. Workers feed developing larvae a sugary solution they produce and also pre-chewed insect bits. Larvae also feed adults a sweetish secretion from their mouths.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Nature Notes: Baldfaced Hornet - Dolichovespula maculata

Spider versus Mud Dauber

It really wasn't much of a contest. The Black and Yellow Mud Dauber's (Sceliphron caementarium) only hope was escaping from the Cobweb Spider's (Family Theridiidae) web -- and she could not.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

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Spider versus Mud Dauber

Five-banded Tiphiid Wasp (Myzinum quinquecinctum)

Male Five-banded Tiphiid Wasp nectaring on Slender Mountain Mint (7/11/09).

Species description (via Kansas State University): This is a slender, shining black wasp, with yellow crossbands, which measures 3/4 inch (19 mm) in length. Males are more slender than the females and have an upturned black hook at the end of the abdomen. There are 5 yellow bands on the abdomen of the female (the second is broken in the middle) and 6 narrow, more regular ones in the male. Both head and thorax are marked with yellow. Legs of the males are strongly yellow, but they are reddish in females. Wings are brown.

Life cycle (via BugGuide): Larvae are parasitoids of white grubs (scarab larvae), especially May Beetles, Phyllophaga. Female lays one egg per grub in soil. Larvae hatches, penetrates host, first feeding on non-essential tissues, later feeding on essential organs and killng host. Pupae overwinter in soil and adults emerge in early summer, with one generation per year. Adults feed on nectar.

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Five-banded Tiphiid Wasp (Myzinum quinquecinctum)

Tomato Hornworm Bearing Braconid Wasp Parasites

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A Good Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworm

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The Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworm (Manduca sexta) shown above is covered with pupal cocoons of a Braconid wasp. The female wasp lays her eggs inside the body of the hornworm. When they hatch the wasp larvae eat the hornworm from the inside out. When the wasp larvae are ready to pupate into adults, they emerge from the hornworm's body and spin these silken cocoons. The Braconid wasps will soon emerge from these cocoons as adults. The hornworn may still be capable of limited movement, but it's innards have been consumed by the wasp larvae and it will soon die.

Hornworms found covered with wasp cocoon should not be killed, but allowed to live -- for just a little while longer -- so the Braconid wasps can complete their life cycle and then paraticize more hornworms.

I have found cocoon covered hornworms a couple of times in the past, but it has been several years. Friday evening I found four paraticized hornworms on one tomato plant. Conditions must be just right for a Braconid wasp population boom.

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Sources and additional information:
Braconid Wasps (Braconidae) on BugGuide
University of Florida
Clemson University
North Carolina State University
Manduca secta on Wikipedia

Tomato Hornworm Bearing Braconid Wasp Parasites

"Cow Killer" Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis)

"Cow Killer" Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis) -- Female

Like all Velvet Ants this Cow Killer isn't an ant at all. She is a wasp, a flightless, female wasp. (Males have wings and can fly.) Female Cow Killers are in constant motion, scurrying along the ground, presumably searching for bumblebee nests. Once a nest is found, she will dig down into the nest and deposit one egg near the brood chamber. When the egg hatches the larva of the Dasymutilla will enter the bumble bee brood chamber, kill the bee larvae, and feed on them. The Cow Killer larva pupates in the bumble bee brood chamber.

The common name "Cow Killer" is based victim's reports that the sting of the female are painful enough to kill a cow. Like most wasps, the male cannot sting.

"Cow Killer" Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis)

Spider Wasp (Tachypompilus ferrugineus)

Spider Wasp (Tachypompilus ferrugineus)

A common wasp often found in open areas (old fields, meadows, prairies and woodland edges) throughout most of North America.  Adults feed on nectar/pollen.  Females provision their nest with spiders, usually Wolf Spiders (Family Lycosidae). 

A female captures and paralyzes prey prior to constructing a nest.   She then drags the spider back to the nesting area.  I do not know where this female captured her spider or the location of her nest, but she dragged the spider through the garden for about fifty feet while I was watching.  A couple of times one of the dogs wandered too close and she abandoned the spider.  However, both time she returned after several minutes and resumed her arderous journey.

Nests are constructed in a crevice or at the base of a rock pile, walls, or building.    The female scoops out a shallow depression in the soil, deposits prey and then lays her eggs.  She covers the nest with soil and debris.

Thanks to Nick Fensler on BugGuide for the ID.



 

Spider Wasp (Tachypompilus ferrugineus)

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part II

Why I NEED BugGuide

A Norther Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) found in eastern North America would probably look more like the one in this photo taken in New York. Note the darker abdomen. The only yellow present is in bands circling the abdominal segments. (This specimen is a male as indicated by the sharp curves at the tips of his antennae.)

An entirely different species of native paper wasp is found in the west. Polistes aurifer has much more yellow on its abdomen, particularly large yellow spots on the second segment.

Here in the Midwest we have various transitional color patterns. The P. fuscatus I found in my basement has yellow spots on her abdomen, but they are not nearly so pronounced as those found on P. aurifer. The ultimate visual distinction between the two species is that P. fuscatus has dark antennea while those on P. aurifer are lighter colored.

(Note: Some entomologists do not consider P. aurifer a separate species but a sub-species, P fuscatus aurifer.)

Field guides are useful and I consult many of them, but when it comes to insects, I'm glad I live in the age of digital cameras and Internet resources like BugGuide. I would never be able to identify more than a fraction of the insect macros I take were it not for help from the experts there.

On his blog Myrmecos, Alex Wild speculates that digital cameras and macro photography may be generating an interest in arthropods akin to the popularization of birding that resulted from the publication of Roger Tory Peterson's first field guide to birds.

Wild concludes:

What are the implications of a larger general interest in arthropods? I don’t know, but I would like to think they would be similar to those of Peterson’s guide. An elevated interest in biodiversity could help sustain conservation efforts. It certainly means a greater appreciation of life’s diversity, and that can’t be a bad thing.

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part II

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part I

Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) -- Female


During one of the warmer days last week, I found this Northern Paper Wasp wandering around in my basement shop. Her behavior was sluggish because it's still too cold for her to become active and it's way too soon for her to begin nest building. We will have many more sub-freezing temperatures and no food for her or her developing larvae is available. I hope she was able to return to hibernation.


Typical Lifecycle: Only fertilized females survive the winter by hibernating in piles of wood, crevice in tree back and in piles of vegetation. When the weather warms enough, she will construct a paper nest and lay eggs. All the eggs laid during the early part of the summer will develop into infertile females, workers that will expand the nest and help feed the larvae that develop from eggs laid by the queen. As the colony matures, males and fertile females are produced. The females that successfully breed will hibernate over winter and become the next year's queens while the males, workers and former queen all die.


Food: Paper wasps eat nectar. They also use their stingers to kill insects, usually caterpillars. The caterpillars are chewed into mushy bits and feed to the developing grubs.

Sources and additional information:
BugGuide
Cirrus Images

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part I

Mason Wasp

Mason Wasp (Euodynerus hidalgo boreoorientalis)

One of the many potter or mason wasps that use mud in nest building. At the University of Texas Brackenridge Field Laboratory this particular species has been observed nesting in burrows in dirt bank, and in cells of Sceliphron (mud) and Polistes (paper) wasps nests.

Mason Wasp

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber (Sceliphron caementarium)

Common throughout North America. This female is building a nest on our porch.

BugGuide: "Nests may comprise up to 25 cylindrical cells, which are usually oriented vertically. Typically 6 to 15 prey spiders are placed in each cell, though up to 40 have been recorded. The female may provide the cells with a temporary closure consisting of a thin mud curtain to keep out parasites while she is collecting prey. Once the final prey is placed in the cell, she lays an egg on one of the last prey and seals the cell with a thick mud plug. She may then add more mud to cover the entire cluster of cells."

The species name means "mason, builder of walls" in Latin.

Black and Yellow Mud Dauber

Weevil Wasp

Weevil Wasp (Cerceris sp.)

This is another of the many small, parasitic wasps that are very difficult to identify down to the species level using only a photograph. Most Cerceris prey on weevils, although a few prey on solitary wasps and bees. They belong to a larger family (Philanthinae) called Digger Wasps because the females excavates a hole in the soil where she lays her eggs after provisioning the nest with her prey of choice.

Weevil Wasp

Tiphiid Wasp

Tiphiid Wasp (Myzinum sp.)

There are 13 species of wasps in this genus and it's very difficult to distinguish between some of them using only a photo. This one was nectaring on the dill weed in the garden.

The larvae of these wasps are parasitoids of white grubs (scarab larvae), especially May Beetles. Female lays one egg per grub in soil. Larvae hatches, penetrates host, first feeding on non-essential tissues, later feeding on essential organs and killing host. Pupae overwinter in soil and adults emerge in early summer, with one generation per year.

Source: BugGuide

Tiphiid Wasp

Chalcid Wasp

Chalcid Wasp (Leucospis affinis)

These little wasps are parasitic. Their hosts are mainly solitary bees, less frequently solitary wasps, nesting in a similar way to bees. Their eggs are deposited externally on the host larva or nearby. The first instar larva does not take any food at first but searches the host cell for competitors; in all cases only one parasitoid larva survives and develops as an ectoparasitoid sucking the body fluids of the host larva.

This female was nectaring on the dill weed in our garden.

Sources:
BugGuide
Natural History Museum of the UK

Chalcid Wasp

Mason Wasp

Mason Wasp (Ancistrocerus catskill)

Mason Wasps construct nests of mud, or nest in burrows, cavities in twigs, or the abandoned nests of other wasps. Most provision with caterpillars. Adults are commonly seen on the ground in open areas or at flowers. This particular species usually nests in the ground. They are solitary.

Additional images:




Additional information:
BugGuide
University of Texas
Insects of Cedar Creek

Mason Wasp

Cicada Skin

I've neither heard nor seen any cicadas yet, but obviously they're around. This one chose to shed its skin on an old wasps nest.

Cicada Skin